15 Random Trivia Facts You’ll Wish You Knew Sooner

Not only are these bits of random trivia fascinating, they also might come in handy from time to time.

Oh really?

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You may not think of sarcasm as the most endearing habit or quality. If you tend to have a sarcastic sense of humor, you’ve probably been told to tone it down at least once. But according to this bit of random trivia, sarcastic people get the last laugh—studies have shown that sarcasm boosts your creativity. And as if that weren’t enough of a reason to embrace the snark, sarcasm can also boost the creativity of the recipients, too! Using it involves making connections between opposing ideas, and interpreting it also requires your brain to reason beyond the literal. Learn more about how sarcasm can make you (and your friends) smarter.

Orange you glad?

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According to a Career Builder survey, orange is the worst color you could possibly wear to a job interview. Twenty-five percent of respondents claimed that the bright color comes across as unprofessional. (The best color to wear, in case you’re wondering, is blue.)

Record-setter

Snooze button

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Sleeping burns more calories than watching TV does. The main reason for this is that our sleeping selves take in exactly zero calories, but while we’re watching the tube, we often get tempted to eat. Commercials and product placement don’t help matters.

Focus up

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The best type of music to listen to to boost your concentration is… video game soundtracks. This is because their purpose is to keep you focused on the task at hand, providing some atmosphere for the game without being overpowering or distracting. So if you need some tunes for the next time you’re working or studying, check out this compilation of instrumental video game music. For more trivia, these are the 20 facts you learned in school that are no longer true.

Meow you know

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A cat version of a corgi exists. It’s called a “Munchkin cat,” and, like the corgi and the dachshund, its short legs and long body are the results of a genetic mutation. If a cat possesses the autosomal dominant gene, which causes the leg bones to grow shorter, it can pass the trait on to its kittens.

Berry confusing

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A banana is a berry, but a strawberry is not. This is because a “berry” is technically a fruit with three distinct layers—a thick outer one; a middle one containing most of the edible fruit; and an inner one that contains the seeds. The fruit also must come from a flower with only one ovary. By this classification, grapes are berries as well, but strawberries aren’t. Botanists don’t seem to be particularly beholden to this naming system. Learn some more science trivia facts that everyone gets wrong.

Keeping you posted

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Lampposts in Central Park have numbers on them to help you keep track of where you are. If you’re lost in the massive park, take a look at the nearest lamppost. There will be four numbers on it. The first two are the digits of the nearest numbered street, and the second two reveal whether you’re on the east or west side of the park. Odd numbers reveal that you’re on the west side of the park; even numbers signify east. The numbers have been there as long as the lampposts themselves—since the 19th century.

The booze blues

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According to a Georgia State University study, people with blue eyes tend to have a higher tolerance for alcohol and can drink more before they begin to feel the effects. The flip side of this bit of random trivia? It also means that blue-eyed people are more likely to become dependent on alcohol. Researchers discovered a significant link between the genes that determine eye color and the genes that impact addictive habits. (Although, of course, you should drink responsibly no matter what color your eyes are.)

Bad-news birthdays

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You have a greater chance of dying on your birthday than you do on any other day. The size of that chance varies depending on age, but it averages out to about 13 percent. Several famous people passed away on their own birthdays, including William Shakespeare, actress Ingrid Bergman, and The Feminine Mystique author Betty Friedan. Studies have revealed that your risk of heart attack and stroke increases on the day you were born by about 22 and 19 percent, respectively.

I heard that

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The technical name for the noise your stomach makes when it growls is a “borborygmus.” It occurs when gas moves around in your intestines, so saying that your stomach is rumbling is a bit of a misnomer. Check out some more random trivia you never knew about the human body.

Man’s best friend

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Dogs can sense human emotions. Studies have revealed that dogs’ brains have voice-sensitive areas very similar to those of humans, in terms of both location and activity. In a University of Lincoln study, researchers found that dogs were able to correctly pair a sound conveying a certain emotion with a photo of a human depicting that emotion. The dogs had not seen or heard the humans in the photos before the experiment, suggesting that canines have an instinctive ability to differentiate between complex emotions. This is most likely because humans have been domesticating dogs and their ancestors for thousands of years, forging a relationship that’s unique among the animal kingdom. Learn the surprising secrets your dog knows about you.

You’ll flip for this one

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Storing sour cream or cottage cheese upside down can help them last longer. This is because keeping them upside down creates a vacuum in the container, slowing the growth of the bacteria that causes them to spoil.

Cozy up

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Cuddling can help heal wounds faster. Cuddling, hugging, and other positive forms of contact with a loved one release the hormone oxytocin. Oxytocin can help relieve pain and even accelerate healing by boosting the action of the immune system. Of course, this doesn’t mean we recommend replacing first aid with cuddling, but it means that cuddling is even better for you than you thought.